Guest post: Frugal Food; Cake Lollipops or What to Do with a Cake that Falls

Selena is friend of mine in Denver, as well as a homemaker extraordinaire. I originally saw this on Selena's Facebook page, responding to a request from one of her friends for her delicious Cake Lollilop recipe. When I read it, I realized that it would be a great solution to dealing with a cake that didn't quite make it out of a mold properly (60% of my cakes), or one where only the edges burned (20% of my cakes) or one that was a little underbaked in the middle (the final 20%). Instead of tossing out the cake, you can "recycle" it into a recipe that is absolutely delicious and beautiful looking on its own le'chatchilah. Now that is frugal food. So clever! Take it away Selena....

Susie asked me to post this a few days ago. Sorry it took me so long....

If you have gone into a Starbucks lately, you may have seen the very yummy-looking cake lollipops. They are basically round balls of cakes dipped into a chocolate shell, then covered with sprinkles. However, there are two drawbacks to these balls of yumminess. 1. They are about $2 each. 2. Even more daunting, for the kosher consumer, they are not something we cannot eat.

Well, I decided that I needed to do something about that. So what does any enterprising home cook do when she wants to have something but doesn't want to buy it? She googles a recipe. And so I did. However, the recipe contained several ingredients I did not want to use, so I tweaked it a little. The result was delicious, and now that I have made them a few times, they look really professional too.

Now this is a blog about being frugal, and of course that plays into this recipe as well. If you have ever had a cake fall or otherwise not turn out, this is the recipe to keep on hand. It works just as well with an ugly cake as a pretty one (maybe even better). So, without further ado, here we go.

Step one: Bake a Duncan Hines cake (or any cake mix you like, but Duncan Hines has many varieties that are non-dairy and they can generally be had for about $1.) Or of course you can make a cake from scratch, but...

Step two: Allow the cake to cool, then crumble it.

Step three: Mix the crumbled cake with Duncan Hines Whipped Frosting (again, I choose it because it is non-dairy, but you could choose any type of frosting or make your own).

Step four: Make ball of cake with this mixture, stick a lollipop stick in it, place on wax paper in a tin or on a cookie sheet, or even on a plate and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Step five: Just before you are ready to take the cake balls out of the freezer, melt chocolate (can be a bar, chips, milk chocolate, semi sweet, or even the colored candy coating you can get at craft places). If you are using chocolate chips, add a few drops of canola oil. I like to melt in a microwave, 30 seconds then stir, 20 seconds, stir, then 15 seconds.

Step six: Using a spoon, coat the cake balls with chocolate. This is definitely the hardest part. I usually hold it by the stick, very gently, the pour the chocolate off the spoon while turning the cake pop. Make sure to get a good coating of chocolate around the base of the stick where it meets the cake. That will help hold it onto the stick. Sprinkle with the decoration of your choice (I like the little colored sprinkles, but other mini candies are nice as well. At Starbucks they have one with mini marshmallows and crushed nuts, but I don't know where I can get tiny kosher marshmallows.) You need to sprinkle right away, otherwise the chocolate hardens too quickly (since the cake is cold underneath). Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Step seven: Eat one before your guests arrive, otherwise you won't get any. They are really tasty and go quickly.

Generally one box of cake mix and one container of frosting will make about 50 cake balls. I have never made that many because I get impatient, and my kids start eating my ingredients. Good luck and let me know if you try it.

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